Despite the fact that the online gambling industry in the UK and elsewhere has gone to massive lengths to ensure player’s personal information is confidential a recent body of research says there’s a lot of anxiety amongst players.

A survey has shown that public trust in the gaming industry's ability to handle their private information is lower than in any other industry, despite the fact that the remote gaming industry is in fact one of the sectors that is doing most in adopting technology to protect customers' identity.

The results, released as part of the GB Group Trust Index, have triggered calls for a code of practice to regain public trust. Despite maintaining one of the best records when it comes to social responsibility, the gaming sector has failed to win public trust in protecting individuals from identity fraud, with almost 46 per cent of those surveyed claiming they did not trust gaming businesses to protect their identity.

The GB Group Trust Index also revealed that concern is running high among consumers about ID fraud, with 30 per cent being claiming they are extremely concerned about this threat.

Richard Law, chief executive officer of GB Group, said: “These results show a real need for gaming businesses to shout much more loudly about the strong stance they have taken on issues of social responsibility such as preventing under-age gambling.

“Those of us who work in the industry know that it is one of the most rigorous in this respect, yet the playing public still perceives it to be the least trustworthy of all the major sectors reviewed.

“Two steps must be taken to help restore the public's trust in general. Firstly, we need a code of conduct on identity security, such as that proposed under the Scottish Business Crime Centre's programme. Secondly, we need tougher penalties for those who break data protection laws and show a cavalier attitude to personal identity security.”

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